1973 Podcast
1973 Podcast special Interview with Adele Bonnaffons motavation and insperation
-- hello everyone and welcome to a very special interview segment of the 1973 podcast. We're here with hopefully a friend of the show. That's what I always like to say going forward. Our friend Adele Bonaparte-Lesuse. I know I screwed that up. No, you know, I did my best. You know, I couldn't throw any, you know, French twang in there, no French toast, no French quarter, no French fries, nothing. So you get what you get, but we're happy to have you. So Adele, Ed says that you've watched the show before. Thoughts on the show before we get rolling? Yes, when he told me y'all were doing this. First of all, there are things that I'm totally blown away by comments and the quips and the ingenious responses that each of y'all have, but I used to watch wrestling with my brothers when they were young. Hulk Hogan, junk your dog, that era, right? So I'm not up to speed on all the WrestleMania now. I told you that the other day, but it's very curious to me how y'all speak of everybody. Second thing is you know I'm a true die-hard Saints fan. I made sure you knew that. So when y'all are talking about the different sports and hockey, we used to have a team in New Orleans called The Brass. When my kids were young, I used to take them to almost every game. We found out more and more about hockey and then of course it disappeared. So we haven't had hockey as part of our sports ensemble really, except when they were young. And Adam's 34 now, so he was probably in his early, early teens at the time. So it's been a long, long time. So I know a little bit about hockey, but much more from the mouth of the South there when we were working together. So yeah, but I actually really like to know it's beyond me, my comprehension at times because of your demographics, but I really have enjoyed the last few weeks and I'm listening. Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of people that watch, but they don't want to admit that they watch because I get to see some analytics on YouTube. And it's funny because you kind of draw the conclusions of who's watching, but they never want to admit that they watch. Or they watch hoping to see it fail or they're not rooting for you. So I'll take the hate. We love the hate. I mean, it's such the emails when we get them. I mean, I combed through all emails almost every week and there's some stuff that I could never even just bring on the show and talk about because it either get too heated or it would get to, I don't know, two sideways with the commentary. And so yeah, good stuff. So the floor is yours. Why don't you let everybody know how we got to this point and how Ed asked you to come on the show. So for the audience, Ed, who is the mouth of the South and I met, oh gosh, nine years ago, and we started working together, run and try, which y'all know he wrote the run and try really from the South L area all the way back into Gulf War to just recently. And we became fast friends because I was hired first, do a little part, some part-time work. And all he was told when he was hired as manager was, "Can you work with a 57-year-old lady?" So he said, "I can work with anybody. She'd be like my mom." And I'm like, "Okay." There was a joke in there, but I'll just leave it for another time. Yeah, leave it like for another time. But once we met and he taught me a lot, we talked all the time, really got to develop an incredibly deep, very unconditional relationship and friendship. And through thick and thin, we both went through some very difficult periods. During the time you were working together, as y'all know, you've known him a long, long time. So I got to know Suzanne and Big Ed through stories and all the family history. And it was a remarkable opportunity for me to be there physically for Ed when his mom was so ill before her passing when he left to go to her services and when he came back. And it was really a struggle, but it meant a lot to me to be that person that he could come to and rely on and know that he was loved and cared for and truly understood what he was going through. So that was a moment in my life that I'll treasure. And whenever I have to call him down, I'm like, "You know, I'm going to call Suzanne. You know she has a direct line to me and tell you what to tell you." So it's a connection that we've had. And he's been there for me through thick and thin, became fast friends with my son and daughter. And we stayed in touch with one another really just because of the friendship. And so that's where we started. And with the run and try history, I've been an athlete all my life. He taught me a lot about the things he did on the sales end. And we just kept bringing people into the community and we were hoping the business would survive. And unfortunately it didn't. So we went our separate raise after that job was but maintained our friendship. So that's how we actually got here. And Ed knows the history of a lot of things that I've been doing since I wasn't working at run and try. So if we want to delve into that, we can. Or I can tell you a little bit more about me because I have no problem telling you about me. Just tell us a little bit for people that don't know you like me and Tom. Just tell us more about your background and how you got some of your sports background and how you ended up competing and life coaching and all that other stuff. And three different nicknames and aliases and witness protection and time with the mafia and Whitey Bulger and all that stuff. So I grew up. I've always been an athlete. You started running and just participating in all the childhood sports that we did. And I had a little talent for the track and field. So I did that. But I was really competitive tennis players. So any of the running I did through high school and through college was really to supplement being on the tennis court. And I was a championship level. I traveled. I was ranked in Louisiana, ranked in the south for many years and especially into my adult years. Played all the way through till just a few years ago. But I competed really on the circuit and into my early fifth, into my early, in virtual about 60. I'm 66 now, I'll be 67 in the end of the year. But high level, all championship level, singles, doubles and nicks. So I would be on the tennis court seven or eight matches from Thursday to Sunday because I was usually in the semis and the finals for all three divisions. So that's where the running actually started was to supplement the tennis. And then I just fell in love with it. So I'm a veteran of 12 marathons. I counted up my half marathons last year because I don't compete or run them as regularly as I did. And I have 453 half marathons. And that's the 13.1 mile distance. And then I I can't even tell you how many 10 Ks. But I have run the Crescent City Classic, which is our New Orleans 10 K. The day before Easter, it is 48 years old. I have run it 44 times. And the only reason I missed the first four, I was finishing LSU and, and also working on my master's at Oklahoma State for two years. So I wasn't in town. And I've run it every year since. So I can't be anywhere else except New Orleans on Easter weekend. I run that race. And then the five Ks were all supplemental runs. And I was competitive for a while, but not anymore. So now I do a lot more walk it. I do the cycling and the swimming. I'm not playing a lot of tennis at all right now for the last few years. So I'm not a triathlete like our illustrious fearless leader over here. As far as competitive. I just use all three sports to stay healthy. No, not you Andy. And like the coleslaw, you get me the efficiency chips. I gotta put up with these guys because these were the guys these little guys that told me to bring my hockey gear when my lawn passed away. These two with a these two with the two ringleaders for it. And I can never thank them enough for that. So I take I take being coleslaw every now and again. I think there's two of the guys that are in the picture that you showed me that y'all took right. Absolutely. Yeah, I love that picture. It's a cool picture. It's one of the few pictures that we shared from way back then when we had a chance. But to be honest with you, have you ever seen Edna tried a tri suit when he's competing? Oh, took my breath away. Wow. I just I just saw a lot of camel toe when I said I can't look. That's I just said I can't look to too many marbles in one bag. I can't can't do it. Can't do it. I think it goes back to those semicolor those semicolor pants. Yeah, but you know what guys y'all can rock them because you're real man, right? You're real man. You can rock the pig. I've been told otherwise by a lot of people. Okay. Well, so my my my fitness life is really my lifestyle, the fitness and the healthy lifestyle. And I am a cancer survivor. So it truly got me through our battle cervical and uterine cancer from the age of 30 to 40, which was very proactive on my part. I didn't have any children and cervical and uterine cancer really is a death sentence if you want to have children. But 35 years ago, 36 years ago with my diagnosis, what I did was have surgeries every couple of months, then some major surgeries in the interim of all that I was extremely blessed to have both of my children during those 10 years, which I wasn't even supposed to be here. Past the age of 40, I'm 26, almost 27 years clear of cancer now. So every day is truly a gift. That's why I wake up every day to cause trouble for somebody. Does it matter who it is? It's gonna be it's gonna happen. I just know it. So that has a lot to do with my lifestyle and it has a lot to do with the different things I've done. So my education based was in the human resources, family counseling, marriage, family counseling, a lot of communication therapy, the sex therapy that goes along with the relationship therapy, all of that behavioral sciences was really the forte of my master's program in undergrad and psychology, sociology. The reason I got into life coaching and the high performance coaching a few years ago, life changes. I wasn't working at the time. I was working part-time actually for some friends just trying to make ends meet. And I was approached when I really needed the most to go into that field. And Ed knows my kids and he says, "Mom, you know, you do this all the time. Why don't you go ahead and establish an income-producing career with it?" So with our nutrition business, I've been very, very well first in the fitness and nutrition business that we have. My son has. So we've transformed lives all the every day. We transform lives in that arena. So the high performance coaching and the life skills coaching and all the empowering and encouraging and motivational things that I do is now in a little package. And what happens with that package is I have a framework that I work within. What I'm doing some one-on-one is some good coaching. I'm still developing a clientele in that, but it's the frameworks to really develop. Anything from clarity and focus and confidence, productivity, time management is some skills that I have people develop in the business arena or personal arena. It's not about an age group, but demographically speaking, when you get into your 30s and 40s and you might be raising kids for your trying to establish new careers, you tend to lose the focus of good habits because you're so distracted. And that's one of the things that's going on with all the things in the world today and social media and all of the things that really just crowding on your head. You can get very distracted from being really your best self. Your best version of yourself would be a typical phrase that we like to use in that particular industry. So what I try to do is help people really find that. I'm not a therapist. I don't use my therapy and counseling training in this arena because I would have to be the licensed as that and I'm not. And if I find that someone comes to me and says, "I really need some help in this particular area," I'll know definitely they need a licensed practicing psychotherapist or counselor or therapist. So I have people that I can afford them to, but I'm basically not in that arena as far as therapy and psychotherapy. So beyond that, with the motivational and empowering speaking stuff, I've got several platforms that are adaptable to young kids, teenagers, some of them are in the Christian schools, some are in the public schools. It doesn't matter. It's a lot of the more athletes that I can really promote the ideas of perseverance and endurance and commitment. If I do do any coaching with them and use a framework, say, focus and visualization and things like that, in that arena, then it's going to be specific to what they're trying to accomplish. Right? I mean, I've got the Olympics going on now. If you talk to any of the Olympic athletes, they've got psychology coaches, fitness coaches, nutrition coaches, they've got their sports skills, agility, strengths, sports specific coaches. They've got the whole package and they need it now to be competitive at the level that they're competitive. The people that I'm going to come mostly in contact with are going to might be moms trying to get healthier after they've raised their kids, and they've kind of not paid attention to where they are. They don't only need some fitness and nutrition valuable information and guidance and accountability, what they also need is somebody to encourage them beyond kids and husbands or families because they didn't get it all along, right? Need to change the mindset. Need to say, "Hey, I can only be good for you if I'm good to myself and I'm worthy to be good to myself. I deserve to be good to myself and I don't have to care what anybody thinks." So if you can help people realize that their personal skills, their personal beauty inside and out is the direction they should take to make their life its best possible, take its best possible path, that's things I can help them with. And I love doing that kind of motivational and empowering speaking because if you reach one person and it changes their ability to see the direction they can go in, they might accomplish something that they never thought they could. And they might be able to bring that to somebody else down the road and I like to share a story that I had. Ed knows I loved running the marathon and half marathon in Disney and I did that marathon. It was my actually second marathon back in January of 1989 and it wasn't even this run Disney program they had. I mean they didn't even have the things that they obviously developed in the last 30 years. So the biggest thing is that over the years I've run the princess half marathon there and I've come to know people over the years that I look for at all the different marathons and half marathons that I've traveled to run. There was a lady that showed up. It was 10 years ago at the Disney half marathon. She was a very large lady. She was walking with a crutch. It had been storming in the Boston area and snowing and she had one day to get from the Boston area to Disney World in Florida. And I just happened to come up too. I had a bunch of magnets I carry around that I pass out to people and encourage them and I just got to know we're standing out of vendors booth and I gave her one of my magnets that says the miracle is not that I finished but that I had the courage to start. It's a quote that probably all have seen but I buy 12 of those magnets and I give them out to people that I get to meet and say hey think about me. I'll be looking for you on the race route. Put on your car, put on your refrigerator because you did it. You got here and all you did was take the first step by walking out your door and tying up your shoes months before that day. This lady has contacted me every February with a text or a message of some sort. Hey Adele, it's Barbara from Boston. Thank you so much for encouraging me that day. The magnet is still on my refrigerator. We had a conversation and she was a very large lady, walked through the crotch and I said what are you planning to do tomorrow. She says well I'm going to do the 5k walk with my husband. The 10k walk by myself with just people from her area that she met and I'm going to be walking the half marathon by myself now with a crotch. Now that's a lot of miles. That's 19 point something miles total because that's what I always did too. And the beauty of that is that I'm this really fit, I was in my 50s, really fit obviously season runner and athlete. And to this day she finished all three races, still shoots me a happy February princess weekend text because we made a connection. She now has several grandchildren. She is no longer as overweight as she is. And that moment made a difference to her. She has no idea the difference it made to me. So the rewards of what I share come back to me a thousandfold. So that's why I'm in that arena now and it's been a very rewarding. I'm still trying to build a financial income base and stability base from it but it's an ongoing process. So that's where I am now. Deli, so where would you like to take this in the next like one to three years? Do you have some sort of a business plan? You know, you're thinking about maybe doing a podcast and stuff like that to kind of help build that in, you know? Actually, actually, yes. And that's part of the speaker's forum that I'm following. I connected with a couple of very, very seasoned, established speaking, not coaches so much as they do coach people to do speaking formats but they love me because I'm just extemporaneous and impromptu. But I've connected with them. So they're leading me in a direction where I can get on stage is actually the best thing to do or get in front of an audience. So with the speaker's area, I've got that and of course I'm developing my topics. But with the coaching arena, I've got an opportunity to create a podcast and I've got some directions now that will lead me into developing that. And the beauty of that is you guys know, y'all try to do about an hour or so normally when you do your podcast, sometimes a little bit more, a little bit less. You can do something for as easy as like 10 minutes and get a message across and start to develop a following. And from that, always offer, get on a call with me or discovery call, get to know me better, get to know you better. Would you be interested in any other types of coach, you know, informational or speaking formats? So that's going to be key. Of course, y'all have done this now for a couple of years. So you know what's involved in getting it gone. The other part is getting together with colleagues that I've met over the last couple of years, which I met with a good friend of mine today. She's actually in the Florida area had been in Portland, Oregon. And we had a little mastermind of about six of us. She's a business coach and talking with her today, she gave me some extremely good leads on some things that I can use to build the coaching clientele on the technology part. And I'm very, I'm challenged on technology, challenged. You just proved your point. We heard it with the phone ringing. Yeah, well, actually that was that I turned the phone off. That was an alarm to remind me about something that happens every Tuesday. And I've got to take it off when I sent the alarm to make sure I got on the Zoom with you guys. But being challenged technologically means I can resource those responsibilities out. And it's a gift. All I need to do, show me how to do it, turn it on and turn it off, and somebody else can do the rest. So yes, and thank you for leading that question because I'm taking daily steps forward to develop the business part of it to a much greater degree. Well, Deli, would you like to have like maybe some more younger athletes and stuff like that, which you could help, you know, be a zoom and stuff like that? Because pretty much with that demographics that we have with the podcast here, what is it? 96.5%. I'm sorry, 95.5% male driven audience. So there's a lot of dads on here that, you know, maybe want their sons or daughters to maybe kind of, you know, take it to the next level, I mean, because last week we had Keeley Smith on from Sacred Heart University. So, you know, we're trying to kind of gear towards a little bit, maybe helping some youngsters with their, with the athletics and that type of thing. And so a lot of mindset stuff taking it to the next level. That's, that's a huge thing that a lot of the pros do as well. Right. And you can do it sport specific because you can take somebody who's doing track and field and take somebody who's in a singular competitive sport, say like tennis, swimming, a lot of times it's a singular competitive sport because you have to do it on your own, but you're part of a team. So there's a lot of visualization and there's a lot of psychology as y'all know, because y'all competed when you were younger, younger. So yeah, there's a lot of things out there. And then just having the resources, if they're looking for the physical or the nutrition or the sports specific agility, there's resources out there to offer them as well as the mindset, the psychology, the win loss, the building, the confidence. And really the self-esteem in the younger athletes, a lot of them have that because they are driven. But those that don't, that have natural talent and gifts need that to be developed. And the only way they usually get it and they become part of the, become intuitive is through the help and accountability or mindset or visualization. Basically this part, the mental part of coaching compared to what their physical gifts are and talents are, which would be their physical agility, strength, sport specific coaches. So yes, definitely I'd love to be doing a lot, a lot of that. It doesn't matter if it's male or female either. Now if it's a sport that I'm not necessarily as well versed in, because I'm not as well versed in hockey as I mentioned, the key would be having the right resources to know what some of those athletes do. And that's based on my own personal research that I can learn from the outside looking in to be better prepared to help them with where I can offer them compared to what their physical and training coaches can offer them. Tom, question. Sure. Did being a high performance coach lead you to being a motivational speaker or was that vice versa? Because to me it seems like being a coach, there's a lot of motivational speaking that's kind of involved in coaching. I actually did a lot more human resource and motivational things prior to having the opportunity to get certified as a coach. And honestly, I'll be very, very honest with you. I did not think I would pursue a lot of the speaking because I do it all the time without using it in a structured platform where it can be an offer that might be for income producing for me as well as reaching larger audiences. One of my major desires, and I'll share this with you, Tom, Ed knows I love the beach. I would love to have a group of whoever it is. If it's a group of ladies, go for a walk, have nice tea or whatever they choose to drink, go for some walks on the beach and have sessions doing that. Or sitting on a bench at a park after a walk, after a run, maybe after a bike ride, or just sitting with a group of people, having conversation. It doesn't have to be in the structure of an office. Obviously, a lot of calls are done by Zoom now. Face to face is a beautiful opportunity because you really get to see their reaction. You get to feel them near you. And so as many times as I could, I would do that. And that's where a lot of the motivation comes in when you're actually maybe planning or working in a certain framework. So yes, and thank you. Adele, I got a question. So if you're a person that's in that neutral stage where you're kind of put a lot of stuff off for yourself because you're focused on a schedule for whatever that is, what is the first thing that you would tell them to do positive-wise, like, get out and get walking at first? And what's the first thing you would tell them to cut out like sugar or your diet or your first thing you would tell them positive and to cut out to move forward into the next step of regenerating yourself and your life? What would that mean? The transformation that they'd like to achieve. I use the word transformation because that's basically what happens, right? It's a big word, but when people hear that word, they automatically think, "I can be better than who I am now," because that's a long-term goal down the road, right? The first thing I'm going to look at and I'll respond to three different ways, if you don't mind Andy. The first thing I'm going to look at is really kind of like a wellness profile with them and I'm not talking just food or fitness. I'm talking where they are in life right now and if one of the things they need to do is get some fresh air, they're going to go walk around the block. I'm going to tell them just put the phone down. If you want to carry something for security, carry a house key and carry something that you can use if you have an emergency, but turn it off because you absolutely need it. Walk around the block and every day or five days a week, add another block. Eventually, you're out there 10 or 15 minutes. Get that away from all of the distractions. Find a happy place. That's going to be the first thing. The second thing, if I do look at the food, it's going to try to really cut down any sugar intake that they have. Sugar really affects the brain health. It affects the heart health. It affects the weight and nutrition that you're not getting. Y'all know that. If they're a smoker, I'm going to tell them they will need to quit. I hate smoking. I've never smoked. I'm horrible about smoking for many, many reasons. If they are a smoker, they really need to quit because they need to prolong their life and they need to improve their environment because it's not helping them even with secondhand smoke. Those would probably be the biggest three priority things I'm going to ask them and then I'll get into a wellness profile with the food and fitness. If they really drink a little too much on the alcoholic side, I'll ask them to start cutting back and portion control on food, alcohol intake, as well as hydration and all the other things that go in that. But those would be the three biggest things from the start. Tom, you got another question? Well, I'm just curious what inspired you to become an endurance athlete because up here, when they have the boss of marathon, you see a lot of stories and it's usually people that are cancer survivors, so I was curious. That's what got you into running. I started running in high school to supplement my performance on the tennis court. I just fell in love with it. There are very few people that are runners or triathletes that are also competitive and I'm talking high level championship level that lose to someone who doesn't have the endurance base that a runner has. I was beating kids ladies 30 years younger because if you can't say I'm in three or four hours, I can't. Hey, I'm at mile 20 or 22 by that time. I'm always finished American. I've got food and beverage last. The key to getting into the marathon parts of my life, I ran my first marathon a month after I turned 40. I was running and started building up every time I had cancer surgery. During those 10 years, I increased the amount of mileage I was doing. I was playing a lot of tennis. It was my sanity. Running was my sanity. It kept me alive, both mentally, physically, spiritually, everything. But because it was easy for me to do and I could release the stress and anxiety of what I was dealing with with the cancer, remember I had the two children during those 10 years. When I was 32, I had Adam. I was two years into my diagnosis. I had Cali 37. Both of them were miracles, believe me. So at 37, I literally turned 40 and my biopsy prior to my 40th birthday. The week I went in was the first clear biopsy of 10 years. So that was December 6th, 1957. I ran the New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon on January 17th, a month later, 1998. So my story was, the running was there already, but it saved my life through those 10 years. And I could do it, so I just kept doing it. But the stories that were shared along the journey of running with friends and family, meeting people that I met, made it that much more impactful for myself and rewarding to me, but also for those that I came to contact with, which is where I did a lot of my motivational and encouraging moments. So thank you for that question. Yeah, you have another question for Adele? Well, I'm going to deviate from the coaching part now. I'm going to say relevant topics that I know that are that she'll love to do a deep dive into. So, Delly, I'm going to let it rip. I mean, I'm just going to say, what do you think about men and women's sports? Okay. You do the question as far as you know. Yeah, I'm biologically female. I compete in the female category. Always have, always will. The only difference in categories I competed in were age group categories as I aged into senior running masters and senior age brackets in tennis, right? Okay. That being said, I will always compete and perform as a female. So my, my comment to that is I truly, truly believe I have no judgment. This is a non-judgment answer. I have no judgment to lifestyles and choices or changes that people make because of their choices. I do have an issue with how they compete at the minimal level, like T-ball, to elementary sports, to high school sports, to college sports, to qualify top of the world Olympic athletes. I have an issue with competing in the opposite of your biological gender. I don't think it's fair to either side because of the physical hormonal chemical makeup that you receive in your biological gender at birth. Did I say it nicely? No. No, I was right. Let it go. Okay. I mean, I've got to watch the ethics here, right, guys? Right. Right. Sure. Yeah. But you don't have the human resources department, so. Yeah. Well, yeah. But I'm filled in a business and coaching as well, you know, and motivation is that I, so this is a deal. This is, this is the honest to God deal. I'm looking at Olympic athletes. I'm looking at my grandsons, you know, who are 5 and 12 competing in Little League or, you know, you soccer and the older ones get ready to go to junior high now. My problem with that issue is you see it. It's so sensationalizing the media that it's now become a huge issue, and I have a problem when I go to enter a race or whatever that says male-female. It's like I always checked my gender for competitive races or whatever I was doing. And now there's six different categories. And I'm like, wait a minute, if you're a male, you're a male, if you're a female, you're a female. That's the bottom line, right? And I look at it that way, so I should compete against females. If I choose to compete against in the male division, then I'm challenging myself. Okay, I have a problem with that. But if I'm changing and making notoriety of it and using it as a platform and taking it to this exponential level, I'm still a biological female. That's where I should compete, and that's where my results will make a difference. If I want to challenge to see if I can beat a male at something or ride faster on my bike, that's my own personal challenge. That's not going into the media, it's not being sensationalized. And I just have a real issue because of the physical, biological, mental, chemical, you name it, basis of the difference in biological genders. That's a great answer. It's a great answer. You know, you tiptoe it around everything. It's a great, great answer though, because you checked all the boxes, no pun intended with that. This is more of a Gen X question, and Adele is in our age demographic for this question. I struggle with this as an older dad of two three teen kids, 10 and 12. Where did we go so far off the path of sports in the 70s and 80s to where it is now the wasification of sports, the not being allowed to be just a regular dude. Like what I mean by that is, when I was a kid, you draw on to certain athletes or pop culture people or something that you think is cool as a kid. We didn't have social media back then, so it was television driven. I thought Evil Knievel was the coolest guy on the planet at one time. You hear all the stories after how he was, but as a kid, you know, well, this guy is awesome. Where did we go wrong as a society from going from the burnt rentals, the that era to where we are now where, you know, you can't even be a guy anymore. You have to be just vanilla. What's your thoughts on that? So I believe a lot of it has to do with the lack of accountability and the lack of people not being told no and the lack of letting people make mistakes or not make the all-star team or not make the team at all, right? It's okay to not do everything, but the accountability and accepting of everybody deserves a trophy for participation. I got that. Okay. All right. You want to do that. I did that in the swimming arena. My daughter swam most of her life, and these little bitty children are not fast, but all they want is a little ribbon or a little trophy, but as they get older, they earn that first place ribbon. They're not given a first place ribbon. They earn that high point winning trophy for the league or the championships. They earn that coaches award for sportsmanship and community and service to their teammates. Not everybody gets it. So not everybody should. So my way of thinking right now and looking at education when I was there, they use paddles when I was coming up. And I'm telling you, they use paddles. And I don't believe in them, but they use them. You have people out there teaching you right from wrong to plus two equals four. And that's the way it always is. The value system has changed to be too accommodating. And I don't believe everybody should be the all-star. I have been the all-star and I have not been the all-star. I have been president of everything, and then I'm not. I know what it takes to achieve the pinnacle, whether it's a position as a director or being voted president of the student council, which is only one that year in the entire universe, that was me. Okay, I had that privilege. I used that platform. But the deal is is that the accountability from the coaches and the parents is not there anymore. And you're seeing it in education too. So you're not being supplemented in the education arena to teach the athletes that are participating. Let's just take the high school level sports. But they don't make the grade. They shouldn't be allowed to participate in anything. A club, a sport, cheerleading, you know, band, anything. We had those accountability markers. If you didn't have a B average and maintain that time management for your studies, your practice, your competition events, you didn't do it. And you were supported at home by the parents. That's what the school rules were. That's what the school parameters were. You didn't get a letter just because you sat the badge. You got a letter because you were able to practice, participate and be part of a team. You gave something to part of that team. If you did an individual sport, you still had to show up for your practice. You still had to make your commitment. And whether you came first place, second place, third place, or last, if you showed up every day and you did what was required and you kept that 3.0 average, then you had the opportunity to get a letter and potentially let it jacket. If you didn't, you don't get it. So I don't believe that everybody deserves the awards. And I don't believe everybody should make the team. And the accountability factor is huge. And I also believe that parental influence has been a major negative factor in the last two decades compared to the positive factor it was as a support to a coach or participation as a coach or participation as a team support person like bring the snacks, help the coach make the phone calls for practices or canceled practices or traveling arrangements. Help the coach do that because the coach is out there making arrangements to teach these kids how to develop both as an athlete, but as a qualified, important service, community-oriented child into an adult. Nowadays, you don't have that to the same degree. You have it, but it's more recognized on the negative end. Before I kick another question to Tom, I just want to say I agree. Real quick, I don't want to get on a diatribe with the whole thing, but you're setting these kids up to fail because when you get into the real world, let's just say there's one job. Two people go for that job. One person's going to get it, one person's going to be but her. That's just how it is. They don't create a new job for the person that didn't get the job. That's just like a participation trophy. You don't get something. You compete it for one job, one person, there's a winner and a loser. And that's it. Any championship is a loser. The second place is, you know, first loser, that's what they say. And then you how you deal with it has changed too. You have people that are able to brush it off and move on and try harder or try something else or try something different. And it's no big deal. It's just a win and a loss. And then you have people that have to be medicated because they can't cope with something that's that big or small in their life. That's what I have a problem with. And I think setting up the kids with participation trophies long term is a bad metaphor for what you're going to deal with in life. So Thomas, question to follow that up. Sure. Kind of totally off topic. But I saw her on your bio, you're an LSU girl. So the question is, are you an escape in girl or are you a less mild girl? Let me explain that right off the bat. I chose the Saints shirt on purpose because we're getting into the football season. Less mild is a character. I think he did a lot of good things, but he also had some skeletons in the back closet. Nick Saban, I respect him. I respect what he's done as a coach. We nobody liked him when he left LSU. He took a national championship, but I will tell you this. He took a lot of great memories. He didn't put up with a lot of crap from athletes that didn't pull their weight like just talking about. And he made something of those guys when you went to Alabama. I don't know if y'all saw the SP awards in his reception of the icon award. His speech recognized his year at LSU, which was the very end of the speech, but it recognized what he accomplished in creating men, not just athletes. And I respect him for what he's done in that arena. Now, will I wear Alabama or encourage anybody I know to go to Alabama? There's only one school and it's LSU. But I do respect him a lot more than I respect less miles, post miles contribution to the success of the LSU program, because he did do some things that I don't agree with, that allowed athletes to still participate. And then it took him three tries, three structure out. I'll give you a prime example. Teran Matthews had everything going for him. He's now saying he'll finish his career as a saint. That boy has some issues. He was given a second chance by Les Miles and then he was gone. But that boy took with it. He had a great family background and support. He went to Saint Augustine High School here, which is a Catholic, Black, all boys Catholic school here. They don't put up with any crap. Les Miles gave him two chances. He was gone. He made a really good name for himself professionally as an athlete, but a better name for himself in the last few years. As a leader of his team, he's got a Super Bowl ring. He's made a better name for himself in a community as a service oriented individual, using his money, fame, and platform to create men and women who have character and service beyond their talent and skill as an athlete. That, to me, says a lot from make the mistakes, lose what he created, and take it to a different level. My takeaway from that, Adele, is just saying that Alabama is a participation trophy. Is that what you're saying with that? Can we quote you on that? No, don't quote me on that because I don't think Nick Saban kept the ones he wanted for me. He had a really great program there that they thrived in, so I've got to give him crap. He's got some great guys. All right, I'm just going to keep it moving. That was my takeaway from, I'm like, oh, well, okay, this lady hates the whole state of Alabama. Good to know. I have a buckies in Alabama. I stopped at it all the time. I just went to my first buckies recently. It was like going into the cantina in Star Wars. That's all I'm going to say. Where was it? Where was it? South Carolina, near south of the border, down that way, we were going to Charleston. What a ride. That was, oh my god, from here down to there, it was like 14 hours in a car, not fun. The smell alone is horrible. Oh, I had hockey equipment in my car too, so that that didn't help. Ed, any more questions? I got one last one. Gelly, who's the best quarterback? Tom Brady and Drew Brees. My boyfriend Drew Brees. My boyfriend Drew Brees. My boyfriend Drew Brees. He's my boyfriend. We didn't say sure it's off. We just said, I got to go with Drew. I mean, he's got one seat with all ring, but the stuff he did, the numbers he put up, I mean, Tom Brady's a great guy. He's the goat. I've given credit for that. But my next number nine, because my favorite number is nine from when I was a little girl, Drew just happened to wear my number. Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow has the makings of a Drew Brees career, if you can stay. He's got the character. He's got the character for that. Thomas, do you have any questions? Everything was answered. So the greatest number nine of all time is Gordy House. I'll go with you there. I'll go with you there. It's gotta be. Anyways, Adele, I just want to say thank you for coming on. Hopefully we can have you on again. Hopefully we can, if you get the podcast going, maybe we can cross-promote, work on something that way behind the scenes and see what we can get going. You can reach out to Ed. You can reach out to me, but I want everybody to know how to reach out to you and, you know, promote whatever you need to as far as getting in touch with you or any coaching or any other questions that they have through this podcast. Hopefully we can, you know, get some eyes on you and help you out with that. What I have right now, because I'm setting up the link stuff with the calendar and everything, right now I'm on Facebook, which is Adele Bonifons, Knuckle Seuss, and then I have my email, which you can post my email if you want, in the link, and that would be the best way right now. And you can direct message me once you do the Facebook link, and that's the easiest way right now, while I'm setting up the other business part of it technologically. She is definitely challenged there. You know, if you have any questions on that, you can always reach out. I'll I can help you out with that. Thank you so much. I'm continuing with the learning of this whole podcasting world. So yeah, I just want to say thanks. Thanks from the guys. Thank you for the positivity that you brought to the interview, the story. I'm sure that it's really deeper than just, you know, a quick hour interview that we've done. And hopefully we can have you back on and yuck it up a little bit. And you know, we're at our best when we are what I'd like to call chirping and telling stories about certain things that, you know, we have to call within that, that thin line that we have on this platform. But yeah, I do appreciate everything. I appreciate your time. I love, I love my ad. You know, we try to get together. I'm going to be in Destin about an hour away from him in October and I already told him he's got to get Elizabeth to come and have dinner with my significant other and I will be down there for a week or I'll take a drive down there. But he gets his birthday dinner every year, every year. And we took him for his 50th birthday to have really good food in Bay St. Louis, when he was still in the golf foot area in Mississippi. And it was a lot of fun. Oh, she allowed to do it. Somebody's got to do it. Somebody's got to do it. You know, you guys, I got to feed him, he's down south. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. What are you going to say before we leave? And this is this is the thing. I'm mad because I've known this guy my almost my whole life. And I didn't even know we had a girlfriend or her name was Elizabeth. What the hell is going on here? I guess it has to be edited out. Oh, geez. It's not getting edited out. He's all done now. He's all done. You forget about it. When Brad gets on here and the phantom, they're going to rip him up. I know it. I know it. Ed. Ed, I'm not going to apologize. Next thing you're going to tell me the guy shoots blanks and we didn't even know that either. Dad, I don't know yet. Okay. I don't know. Okay. And nothing you can't figure out. That's all. So, thank you all so much guys. I appreciate it. I know I want to give me a text when y'all are going to be airing this and that way I'll get my family. Absolutely. We will. We will. Thank you.